Proposed assault on Social Security is unnecessaryaccording to Reagan's chief Social Security actuaryEric LaMont Gregory

All the cuts agreed in the budget deal reached by Congress to raise the debt ceiling excludes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Although $2 trillion in public spending cuts are contained in the plan all but a few of the agreed cuts will not begin until 2014. According to the Congressional Budget Office, only a minor impact is expected on the economy over the next two years. It seems that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's warning that - cutting too much too soon could harm the weak economic recovery - was acted upon by a majority of the members of the House of Representatives. Although many economists admit that the deal reached won't do much to help the economy in the short term.Under the debt deal, discretionary spending, which excludes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, would be cut $21 billion in 2012 and $42 billion in 2013, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.Combined, the cuts agreed after months of wrangling and near default will amount to about two-tenths of 1 percent of the economy's total output over the next two years. Naturally, the euphoria of sending so many new members to the House in November 2010, has not brought about the kinds of serious budget cutting the American people want.The House passed a $2.4 trillion debt-ceiling increase Monday night with the Senate expected to follow on Tuesday, 2 August 2011.The agreement to cut deficits and raise the debt ceiling shows the influence exerted by the tea-party movement on Republicans and Democrats alike. And yet, many tea-party members from coast to coast denounced the debt ceiling increase and small spending cuts in the agreement. Of particular concern is the fact that 350 of the 917 billion budget cuts in the first stage of the agreement are from the Military budget, while the big entitlements remain untouched.

Chicago Tribune, 21 April 1934with the full faith and credit of the United States at stake, deficit brinksmanship is a frontal assault on the American people